The Cutting Room: Jessabelle and A Good Marriage

August 28, 2014

August 28, 2014

This week in The Cutting Room we’ve got a couple of chillers for you.

Jessabelle

After surviving a car accident in which her fiancé is killed, Jessie (Sarah Snook) returns to her childhood home in Louisiana to recuperate. While there, she discovers several video tapes containing messages to her from her long dead mother, and before you can say don’t play those tapes , wouldn’t you know it, there’s a malevolent spirit stalking her.

Why we’re looking forward to this: While it’s true that we may be getting a little fatigued by the likes of Paranormal Activity, there’s always room in our viewing schedule for a genuinely frightening movie and judging by the trailer Jessabelle could be exactly what we’re looking for.

Effectively combining ghosts (the film’s original title), the supernatural and good old voodoo, the film’s Louisiana setting conjures up memories of classic fare like Angel Heart and positively exudes a feeling of menace and mystery.

Added to that is the script by Ben Garant, the writer behind the Night at the Museum films and the Reno! 911 TV series (okay they’re not horror, but he has written movies that have in total grossed over one billion dollars at the box office, so I’ll cut him some slack here), and a starring role by Sarah Snook who was impressive in her supporting role in the excellent psychosexual thriller Sleeping Beauty.

If it can avoid being dragged down by employing too many supernatural movie clichés, and more importantly hasn’t given away all of the good stuff in the trailer, then we think Jessabelle will be worth your time.

Jessabelle is released in the US on 7th November and is sure to be available in the UK shortly thereafter.

A Good Marriage

Darcy Anderson (Joan Allen) has been happily married to her husband (Anthony LaPaglia) for twenty years, and is used to his business trips. When she ventures into the garage looking for batteries during his latest travels, however, she makes a horrifying discovery that sends shockwaves through her marriage.

Why we’re looking forward to this:A Good Marriage is based on the Stephen King short story which appeared in his Full Dark No Stars collection, and was arguably the stand out tale. Now we know what you’re thinking, that King may write great books (mostly, anyway) but when it comes to film adaptations they generally suck. As it happens, we agree with you.

That said, when King adaptations are done well, they usually shine. Think The Shawshank Redemption, think Misery, think Stand By Me (from his short story ‘The Body’). Now consider what they have in common – you have ten seconds, go!

The answer is that the best King adaptations are those without a hint of the supernatural or fantastical, and A Good Marriage follows this trend in that the horror is of the variety that could happen to anybody, to any one of us. This is not a spoiler, given it’s prominent in the trailer, but what do you do if you find out that your husband of twenty years is actual the notorious serial killer you’ve been watching on the news? Darcy Anderson is about to find out, and so are we.

A Good Marriage is out in the US in October and TBC in the UK.

RICHARD COSGROVE

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